Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy has expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the currency crunch has been handled post demonetisation.

He slammed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for making haphazard preparations, and said everything was ad-hoc.

He also criticised Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das and said they are sitting idle to tackle the problem created as a result of the demonetisation move.

However, Swamy hailed the demonetisation move and said it would play an important role in bringing down terror financing.

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He said this will give the countrymen one year of breathing space from terrorist attacks which are based on counterfeit notes.

He said had he been consulted, he would have suggested to the government that people who return demonetised currency notes be exempted from having to pay income tax on the money.

“We should have prepared a contingency plan in advance so that the ordinary people, particularly in far-flung areas, do not suffer. We are now learning by doing,” he had said.

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He also appreciated PM’s thinking in bringing out new measures like banks waiving ATM charges, extending the usage of existing currency to November 24, higher limit withdrawal per day and per week, and recalibration of ATMs (automated teller machines).